Return To The Stars
by Cloudyvisage
Summary: A young Togrutan child is left to die in the jungle after a hunting excursion with her parents goes horribly awry. Deaf and lost in the jungles of her homeworld she stumbles upon a lost secret of her galaxy. Even as the galaxy unknowingly hurdles toward greatest war in over a thousand years a new contender will observe. Will the Jedi find a powerful ally? Or a terrifying foe?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Kwah-Kai

A Long Time ago in a Galaxy Far, Far away three species fought a brutal war to exterminate the other across the galaxy. The first of these was the Protoss, a species whose origins could be traced back to an even older species named the Xel'Naga who ruled their universe with great strength until they disappeared, the Xel'Naga left behind the Protoss, a child species who held tightly to their origins and treated the artifacts of the powerful Xel'Naga with great respect.

The next of these species was called the Terrans, these creatures were a rapidly expanding species who had very few driving forces other than expansion, they were a greedy species as many young species can be.

The third were known as the Zerg, they were a recently discovered species that was completely different to the other two, they were vicious and were driven by a singular goal, consume everything and become perfection.

The most unique aspect of the Zerg was that they were a hivemind species, they were controlled by central points of intelligence which exerted influence on the lesser Zerg around them, the culminating point of this was the Overmind, a great intelligence that controlled Zerg across the sector.

The war between these species was long and brutal, billions perished with every new excursion and the Protoss were forced to rely on more powerful but also more valued and dangerous artifacts.

The Terrans were forced to create their armies faster and faster with less resources, even as they developed stronger weapons.

The Zerg, the slow but consistent victor of these battles simply adapted as they always do, until finally someone did what seemed impossible, they killed the Overmind of the Zerg.

The subsequent insanity of the Zerg gave the two other species time to regroup and refocus their efforts to regaining what they had lost to the Zerg.

From the ashes of the Overmind, however, rose another threat, a Terran turned Zerg via infestation, Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades.

With the Zerg threat renewed and a more hands on leader appointed the Terrans were rapidly shoved back to their core worlds.

With the Protoss focused on retaking their homeworld the Terrans were forced to attempt their assassination against the new leader of the Zerg instead.

Attacking the adopted homeworld of the Zerg the Terrans brought along a Xel'Naga artifact that would destroy the Zerg and potentially return the infested Queen of Blades to her Terran status.

The attack was successful but the Terrans who reclaimed the Queen of Blades sought in their greed and selfishness to learn of her power and did not kill her.

The Queen was too powerful to be contained and escaped her confines to continue to wage war on the Terrans and all who would threaten the survival of the Zerg.

The years following this are lost to history but for a few recovered logs from the Terrans and Protoss, the Protoss recovered their homeworld but only after working with the Zerg and Terran due to an external source that was similar to the Xel'Naga but not the same.

After this no records remain that tell of where the three went, they simply, disappeared with no trace.

This concludes information that has been gathered from the very few remaining Protoss and Terran sites, from this point on is to be pure conjecture and opinions.

Many species have claimed influence from ancient races, such as the Rakata or the Infinite Empire which are assumed to be one and the same, though not necessarily true.

However some species claim to have come from nothing and risen to prominence by their own merits, the most obvious of these being the testimonies of the most prolific of species.

This however would denote that they had enough population to have boosted themselves to such a state, what is the likelihood of a single species coming to prominence simultaneously on many planets across the galaxy?

Despite many species rising up at a similar speed humans are not necessarily uniquely skilled in elevating themselves above their peers, why were there so many planets that humans come from?

I submit the idea that our galaxy's humans are descendants of the Terran race which as our records would indicate were quite gifted in spreading amongst the stars.

The Protoss I believe to be the spiritual ancestors of all Force Sensitives or at least seem heavily related to the Force powers we exhibit today from what has been recorded.

The Zerg however, are completely lost to history, no records remain and no evidence of their existence aside from the Terrans and Protoss records themselves.

I can only assume the Zerg were either finally wiped out by the two forces at some point or that some other cataclysmic event ended all these species and the ruins of the Zerg were the quickest to turn to dust over the eons.

This record was written by Librarian Erso Kerine, Year 40 BTC. (Timeline Enforced Retroactively) All information in regards to the origins of the galaxy can be found in the library on Tython, all recovered codexes from the Library of Ossus are to be immediately recorded and given to the current head librarian of the Jedi Order.

32 BBY – Opening years of the war – Unknown - Shili

"Mommy? I can't hear you, where are you?" The world was dark, the night had so many stars but none were visible beneath the thick jungle canopy.

A small child with colorings of yellow and white across her body lay still on the jungle floor quivering slightly underneath a large root.

As the child raised its face slightly the facial markings became evident, a thin blue oval on either side of the face led to the forehead which had a downward pointing triangle of a slightly lighter shade of blue.

A roar shattered the silence not even the bugs were willing to break, the sound was nearby and was quickly followed by the sounds of anger and screams.

Even as the child lay trying to not be a target the roars came closer until a huge beast shattered the exposed root and landed in front so as to block any outside sight.

The screams had been silenced and even the angry yells had quieted to mere whimpers on the other side of the non-moving beast, for better or worse this creature was now preventing whatever else was out there from seeing the child.

After laying there for hours another group came, this one was quiet and reverent to their surroundings, after moving the huge creature the child saw others of the same species for the first time in nearly an entire day.

"This one managed to hide behind the body, daring indeed, come little one, we will need you to come walk on your own, we will find your family or those who would take you in" the tall male creature with great horns coming from his head and long head-tails, or Lekku, hanging off him as he leaned over gestured to the child.

As the child looked it realized that he was beckoning, while it was still in great pain it understood that they meant well and slowly the child crawled out of cave.

But as the child exited into the still somewhat dim light of the jungle morning the others lightly gasped, "Her Montrals…"

The child could see the surprise on the faces of the adults but was only made more frightened by their own distress, it was also at that point that the child realized that the world wasn't simply muted because of the cave but that all was silence.

"There is nothing we can do, this kill is hers by warrant of those who guarded her and slew it, but we shall still take our portion, may the trees and grass treat you kindly young one." With that they began to cut into the large creature until there was only some left.

The adults sat the child down and pointed at the carcass, gesturing that she should eat from it before they then left, sad that nature had claimed another of their own.

The child did not understand what was happening, these people had come and they had been the saviors that the child so needed, but then they had left, why did they do that? But deep thoughts would not come, the pain on top and behind the head was too much and sleep again took the child.

32 BBY – Opening years of the War – Jedi Consular Shaak Ti – Shili

"A quick excursion would do the younglings good, indeed, were it so easy… You! Over here now!" Shaak Ti was a noteable Jedi and while no master she was not to be underestimated, perhaps she would be a master soon, but for now she was in charge of a group of younglings who had been assigned to her.

Her homeworld, the world of Shili was a dangerous, beautiful place but she found it relaxing, here no one judged her because it was more attuning to nature and the force to go without footwear, no one judged her feral smiles and no one pointed at her exotic colors and noticeable Montrals.

Sighing ever so slightly she looked at the children to see how they ran about, anything interested them, as should be the case with any normal child, even with the Jedi trainings they were not necessarily more calm than other children.

The younglings would be distracted with the colors of her world, were she not in such a drab location she might show off why her species evolved such colors, but for now she just needed to round up all the surprisingly nimble children.

"Younglings, come, I will show you my planet but you must be patient and follow me, Schee, please give me a headcount." Looking towards the eldest of the younglings she requested his assistance as an intermediary.

"Yes! Everyone, line up! 1… 2… 3… 4…" After counting through the children on site she checked her roster and realized they were all set, for better or worse these children would have themselves a memorable experience.

32 BBY – Opening years of the War – Unknown – Shili

The days had been hard, the child was no longer a stranger to fear and she forced herself to eat the bugs and small rodents she came across.

Despite her occasional success she still couldn't hear and therefore her natural advantage as a Togruta was completely lost, she was merely a child with fangs and slightly better than average reflexes.

The 9th day was the worst by far, she hadn't found anything to eat and had fallen down a tiny crevice that she thought would protect her by warrant of being so small that she had barely squeezed inside.

The idea turned to pain as she fell down after having squeezed herself in a little farther due to the loud stomps of a larger creature outside.

In the darkness she felt pulsing beneath her, despite falling from a distance that would have assuredly hurt her greatly she was only bruised and battered, mostly due to the slightly squishy pulsing ground beneath her.

Straining her eyes to see anything in the all-consuming darkness she recognized a glimmer of blue from a distance away.

Slowly crawling toward the light that blinked in and out every now and then she eventually reached it, slowly extending her hand she touched it.

"O Shar'as Shi'el." A strange voice spoke out that seemed to whisper into her head, then just as suddenly as the voice came, so did the light.

Just one light, simple and green blue it was, crackling with energy the light came from a golden bracer type object and flared out to a length of about 2 and a half feet where it stayed, shaped like a tall triangle almost like her head marking.

The object lit up the darkness just enough for her to see she was kneeling in a purple flesh like substance which pulsed slowly and constantly.

"Nas Beru Uhn'adarr?" The voice in her head spoke again, once again assuring her that she could still hear, even if she hadn't heard a single thing in the last few days.

Looking around she still saw no one but the pulsing of the ground led her away from the light, for some reason she felt compelled to follow.

After leaving the light around a corner she was kept on track by feeling the pulses beneath her hands and knees, perhaps this was what she was looking for.

Finally, after crawling for almost an hour she hit her head on something soft and pulsing, but this one was not on the floor, it was an egg of some sort.

Crawling around the egg she confirmed what it was but was still puzzled as to why she was brought here, something had compelled her here but she still wasn't sure why.

Resting her back on the egg the tired child began to fall into sleep as her utter exhaustion claimed her, but even as exhaustion claimed her she felt something else on her back, something much warmer, sleep came even faster as she thought of the warmth as her mother's hug.

32 BBY – Opening years of the War – Jedi Consular Shaak Ti – Shili

She felt it, the Force, it called, it beckoned, something in the deep jungles of Shili had just awakened, even some of the Younglings could feel its call.

"Master, what was that?" the eldest of the Jedi Younglings looked up to her, eyes questioning, even as a few others cast their heads about confused.

"Schee, I need you to head back to the ship and wait there, I will return as quickly as I can, if I take too long here is some credits with which to sustain yourselves, return to the Jedi Temple if I do not come back within the week."

The eldest nodded and ferried the children towards the ship, the people of Shili were a kind people in their own ways, they would not harm the children nor let harm befall them.

Looking southward she gathered her supplies and set out into the jungle looking for the source that called to her.

Traveling southward for two days set the Jedi Knight in an awkward position, she could continue on but the calls from the Force had become increasingly cryptic, sometimes she felt she was almost there, other times she felt months of travel away.

Then it hit her, she was on top of the call, it was below her, the reason the call became so strong was likely due to the small crevice beneath her yawning into the depths.

A few quick slashes with her Lightsaber made the opening considerably more humanoid friendly and she carefully made her way down.

Upon arriving at the bottom she found it to be covered in a flesh like substance that was clearly alive, perhaps the strangest form of algae or moss she had ever seen.

She heard a sound and looked toward a small blue light in the distance, crouching to not hit her head on the hanging stalactites she made her way to it.

Through her Montrals she could see something lying there on the ground, a Togrutan child, with her hands clutching something.

As she reached down to the child the thing in her hands became evident, it was a golden bracer, large enough the child could have worn it on her leg and it still would have slid off.

"Child, why are you down here?" a quick question brought no answers to her, the child would not respond.

The moment that her hands touched the shoulder of the child the little girl jolted upright and swung the bracer in front of herself awkwardly, also, incidentally, releasing enough of the Force to shove the older woman back several feet.

"Be at ease child, I wish you no harm, you have the Force and I wish to take you to a place that will help you with your gift"

Again, the child did not respond but instead hugged the bracer tighter as she began to whimper ever so slightly, then just as quickly must have realized that she was making noise and became even quieter.

Clearly this child was terrified, of what the Jedi Knight did not know but nevertheless the child was clearly Force Sensitive and needed to be brought to the Jedi Temple.

"I say this one more time child, I wish you no harm, I will pick you up now and we will leave this scary place."

Yet again the girl tried to shove her away but this time she was ready, while the child was strong she was certainly not trained and her ability to push the Jedi Knight was limited almost exclusively to surprise.

The Jedi Knight began to climb the small cliff leading to the outside and it seemed that the flesh like moss from before had receded, perhaps some creatures had come and eaten some of it now that the opening was larger.

Reaching the top and climbing out she thought she heard a whisper from the cave "Anht Zagatir Nas, Ki Nala Atum" the words comforted her for some reason and she leapt out into the jungle holding the child over her shoulder.

32 BBY – Opening years of the War – Unknown – Coruscant, Jedi Temple

The tall spires were wondrous and confusing to the child as she watched them fly by in a manner that would have had her throwing up constantly had she had the sensory abilities of her Montrals.

Instead she marveled at the world around her and the thousands of other ships she could see flying below her, but the best was what was in front of the ship.

Towering over everything in the area, a humongous building so large she could not properly grasp its size even as they got closer and closer, it never stopped getting bigger and bigger.

Finally they arrived at a docking bay and disembarked, the Younglings had been asking the girl questions the entire ride but she had only ever responded to their body language occasionally, and usually in confusion or stress induced shyness.

Looking around the bay was filled with transport ships and a large number of personnel going back and forth readying ships.

Walking through the hangar bay doors she again saw the city world from the vantage of the Jedi Temple, the huge building was high upon the city world letting her see the great skyscrapers that make up the city.

"Now Younglings, hurry along, your trip may have been short, and for that I am sorry, but we must get you back to your masters." The Jedi Knight shuffled them along through the huge doors of the Temple.

"Now, go to your classes Younglings, I have some business to take care of with our new little one." Shaak Ti reached down and held the hand of the small child and led her to the Council Chambers.

The temple was also large on the inside, as the girl looked around she found that there were many places that were completely vacant of people, as though the Temple was supposed to be a quiet reflective place, but she hated the quiet.

Eventually they arrived at two large doors which promptly opened when Shaak Ti waved her hand at them, "Council members, I bring a Youngling to be tested who appears to have awakened shortly after I reached the planet's surface."

"Ah, spoke of this child, your report did. Speak to her, we will. Your efforts, appreciated, they are." A small green creature even shorter than she was spoke in front of her, she could not hear what he said but his lips informed her nonetheless.

"Masters, two things I must leave to you, the first is that the child has suffered extensive damage to her Montrals, she is incapable of hearing you, secondly, when I left the cave that held her I heard a few words whispered in the force, Anht Zagatir Nas, Ki Nala Atum, I know nothing of the bracer she holds either, thank you Masters."

With that the Jedi Knight left and the child shivered as she felt the gaze of the members of the Council arrive on her, she clutched the golden bracer harder to her chest.

" _Child, harm, we intend not. Simply to speak, is what we wish."_ Looking up she saw the green creature gesturing to her, slowly she walked over to the friendly creature.

"Wahdy haek me" She spoke for the first time in her life, she had been a slow developer, even by Togruta standards and would have likely started talking shortly after that ill-fated hunting trip with her family.

" _Be calm, you must, among friends, you are. Wish to test you, we do, simple and without pain it will be."_ A strange looking woman with no Montrals and black stuff upon her head approached her.

The girl looked down and held the bracer as tightly to her chest as she could and slightly whimpered until the pink woman with no colorings lightly grabbed her arm and she felt something poke it.

" _Young you are, strong in the force you are. Train until fear holds no power over you, we will. For now, rest and recover, you should."_ The pink woman reached down and put out her hand, the girl darted her eyes around until eventually she put her own tiny hand in the much larger hand of the human woman.

It looked like the woman was saying something then seemed to remember something and simply gestured to follow her out.

The following days were very hard on the girl, she was directed towards a large room and given a bed, and there she was surrounded by many eager Younglings.

Day in and day out those around her came to talk to her to get to know her, but none of those children quite understood the implications of not being able to hear as their teachers had informed them.

Finally, after being there for three weeks with only basic instruction the young girl could not take it anymore and while everyone else was sleeping fled to the underpassages of the Jedi Temple, throughout the night she delved, until she found a room that called to her.

The entire room was filled with crystallized minerals of various colors, from the little she had gleaned these were likely Lightsaber crystals.

Pulling out the bracer she had been allowed to keep she set it down and attempted to rest her head on the uncomfortable metal surface, willing herself to sleep, even as she felt the warmth on her back of her mother's embrace.

She awoke hours later to a light pulsing feeling beneath her, she slowly got up and saw that the pulsing feeling was a flesh-like carpet of purple that covered the entire room.

She felt something behind her and turned only to scream in horror at the creature in front of her, it had webbed wing like appendages on either side of its almost wormlike body with two small arms with sharp claws.

Quickly rolling backwards to get away she realized the room no longer had a discernible door, only the purple carpet everywhere.

The creature seemed to realize her distress and stopped floating off the ground, instead landing on the ground and making a sound she could hear, which seemed to be friendly.

Slowly she stood up and made her way back to the creature which lay very still, until she touched its wings, at which point it made a sound of glee.

The girl could not figure out what it was that made her appreciate the creature, only that it felt like it wanted to comfort her, be kind to her.

Eventually she realized she had been gone a very long time and the Jedi might start looking for her, they might even come across her new friend, the only one she could hear.

She quickly stood up and pointed at it then pointed at the ground, "Schay!" she ordered the creature, still unable to hear herself talk and therefore slurring her words heavily.

She turned around and looked for the door more carefully this time, eventually she found it and pointed to it, startling the girl the purple carpet actually started dispersing from the door until it was open enough for her to pass through.

"Wuv you!" the girl shouted behind her as she bounded out the door, determined to find her way upwards and to return from whence she came, the parting words she left the creature were words that had been ingrained deeply into her by her parents, some of the few words she both knew and understood to some degree.

After wandering the corridors for several more minutes she came across several Jedi who looked incredibly relieved to see her, they began speaking to her and gestured for her to follow them.

Several more minutes of following the Jedi led her back to where she came from, the Younglings communal rooms, she was sad she was back here, a place with no one who even knew her or cared enough to try to be friends with her, but at least one thing was her friend now, and she knew exactly how to get back to him.

 **Star Wars is great, StarCraft is great, match made in heaven! I absolutely adore the Zerg, any story with the Zerg in them automatically is more interesting to me so I decided to introduce them through a history mashup with the ancient parts of their lore, Star Wars can fit the Zerg in just fine, after all their own history is super spotty and only goes back so far. StarCraft on the other hand will need to be taken with a grain of salt, after all, Earth exists in StarCraft, therefore 'A Long Time Ago' isn't so perfect, but whatever, Fiction! It's Great!**

 **I will be getting back to writing my other stories about now, I think I might even finish up that chapter of Many Millennia Lost I started forever ago... I only have one other story that may be going somewhere but I don't like releasing them unless I have a few chapters I can post as I see fit or have enough characters to use as tags.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Zhakul Inok

Months had passed and the tiny child had grown ever so slightly but a new problem had arose after the first day she found her new friend, the Force would no longer respond to her when she was training.

In fact, the Force wouldn't respond to her at all unless she was holding her bracer, which was not possible most of the time, she managed to not make it obvious she was barren of the Force but some people were beginning to wonder why she would have tantrums or be sick only during the training of her Force powers.

During martial training she was on point and would work with the others during team building exercises, even mental exercises were well within her efforts, but training the Force was another matter.

Even as her fellow Younglings started to turn against her and mock her for her inability, she remained calm on the outside, never showing weakness to the children outside of her timed tantrums.

Yet even as she secluded herself from others she gained more time to be with her friends in the squishy carpet room with the crystals.

At first her only friend was the oddly flat hovering one of orange and purple that collected the crystals and piled them in the center of the room, but then something strange happened.

The day that things changed was when she came back to her new found home and could not find her friend, instead, in the middle of the room was a slightly glowing pulsing mass of flesh.

For some reason she felt her friend in that mass and even felt the comfort of the steady pulse and decided to lie on it, the soft squishy feeling calmed her as she recalled her day.

The next few weeks the mass became larger and larger until she could not rest on top of it any longer and lay down next to it to rest.

Halfway through the next month she returned to find in the center of the room a wide based tube like thing reaching to the ceiling, around the structure were small centipede like creatures and a large pulsing egg.

She walked over to the egg and gave it a light hug, with no one else to speak to or interact with she simply rested next to the new egg, again feeling the calming pulsing that put her at ease.

The next two weeks saw four more of her original friends come from the eggs, each of which seemed very busy collecting the crystals until the moment she arrived, then they would come to her and play with her.

Yet even as the days went along no more friends were born, just the four flat, floaty ones and the wide based tube structure that was once her first friend, and, of course, the little centipedes that didn't react to anything.

Yet at the end of the months of her evasion of Force she was finally caught, a few Younglings had been telling their instructors that the girl was without the Force for long enough the instructors finally decided to do a simple cursory evaluation to see why she was avoiding using the Force so avidly.

Looking down on the girl the slightly older friendly man came to get her in the morning, he seemed to be gesturing to her and was exuding friendliness but the girl didn't really understand friendliness properly, after all her friends didn't really react to her the same way humans do.

Leading the girl he went into a large indoor environment complete with a small river in the middle and pointed her to a stone across from him.

The man lightly stretched then sat down crossing his legs on top of the stone while exhaling slowly, once settled he again gestured for her to copy him.

The girl sat down on the rock and looked around at the rockery and trees wondering why she was here, per the usual she had no idea what was happening.

The man closed his eyes and spoke, " _Child, I know you have felt much pain in these last months but I only wish to know whether we are helping you learn, your peace is something you will learn over time."_

The man levitated a small rock next to the girl, _"I also have one question, when we found you we had no name for you, could you please tell us your name?"_

The girl looked at the ground for a bit then looked up at him and shook her head, "Nuh Naam" to which the man responded a little sadly by contemplating the rock he was holding in the air.

 _"When the Knight found you she told us she heard a few words, 'Anht Zagatir Nas, Ki Nala Atum' from within the cave, if you would like we could call you Ki Nala and if you would like a surname later we can decide then, the first phrase sadly does not sound very much like a name."_

Ki Nala looked up and gave a slight smile, she liked the name, it felt familiar, like her friends and the bracer, but then she was reminded of the problem at hand and became somber again.

The man set the stone in front of her, gesturing for her to lift it, it was such a small pebble, barely larger than her tiny fingers but it was terrifying to her, but this time she came prepared, the bracer she could never bring to her classes normally was fine to bring here and bring it she did.

Pulling the bracer into a tight clutch she thought of picking up the pebble but then realized she hadn't truly done anything other than sense things ever since she originally lost her connection and found to her dismay she couldn't move it.

Looking at her intensely the man spoke into her mind again, " _Try again child, you must call on the Force and call for its assistance, help it come, remember, we are but servants of the Force."_

After trying harder and harder until her chest hurt from the hard metal of the bracer and her mind hurt from the effort and stress the hour ended and the man stood up, " _I believe this has been an eye opening exercise, I will be taking some blood from you and I will see you next week, I have some things to check."_

As soon as the door closed Ki Nala burst into tears and went out the opposite exit, running as fast as she could back to her friends, yet even as she wanted nothing more to bar her way, a small leg stuck out from around a corner and tripped her.

The leg was position such that her shin hit it just as she was lifting her own leg, with no reinforcement in front of her and inertia guiding her movements she quickly tumbled forward with only one thin arm able to slow the impact as the other one held the bracer close.

Her right arm hit the ground and immediately buckled, followed by her arm holding the bracer, then the side of her head, had she not been holding the bracer the damage might have been minor but the bracer broke several ribs and acted as a fulcrum to her upper body and head, causing the already bad fall to instantly knock Ki Nala out and even crack her skull.

The Younglings of course knew not what they had done, only that the girl was no longer able to hold on to her shiny golden bracer as she always did, and that there was no way she was really badly injured, all they did was trip her.

The Younglings raced away with their prize even as Ki Nala somehow woke up, some combination of adrenaline and her Togruta nature giving her what might normally be a last stand on her planet.

Instead of being used to save those around her from a dangerous Akul the adrenaline caused Ki Nala to drunkenly run/crawl her remaining way down the vents and tunnels, yet the disoriented and injured girl had no chance of finding her way through the maze of vents and tunnels she had long since memorized and instead fell once again only a few feet away from the vent which led to her friends who were dutifully collecting the crystals, waiting for her return.

32 BBY – Opening years of the War – Ki Nala – Coruscant, Jedi Temple

Ki Nala woke with a different perspective, the world was blurry and wet, but it also felt comfortable due to the warmth and pulsing around her.

Slowly she felt the need to stretch herself and with that she felt some resistance, the resistance did not feel strong, in fact it felt like it was easy to break, so break it she did, and with that the world suddenly became heavy and focused again.

Lifting her head Ki Nala noticed all around her were her friends lying around her and also something which terrified her, herself, lying against the structure of her first friend, but she was so thin, and so pale.

Ki Nala had never really seen herself in a mirror, even water was not something she realized would show her a reflection of herself, therefore she never quite realized why she was made fun of despite their being other Togruta Younglings and even a Jedi or two of her species.

The girl lying across from her was damaged, the headdress like Montrals of a young Togruta were discolored and the patterns were directed randomly, as if they had been damaged heavily and then grown around that damage.

Her clothing had been torn away, presumably by her friends trying to help… herself, and the skin around her chest was heavily bruised and even a little concave from some sort trauma.

The front side of her face had a huge bruise that looked exceptionally discolored and reached from above and behind her temple to her eyebrow and jawline, even her eyes had bags underneath them.

Ki Nala slowly crawled over to the individual she somehow knew was herself lightly touched the scars of her Montrals, realizing that these scars were probably why she couldn't hear and everyone else could.

Sitting back she began to cry again, for her current self or for that poor unfortunate person in front of her she wasn't sure, but something broke this time, she began to laugh suddenly, the nonsensical laugh would hardly have registered as such if the girl were able to hear herself, but she wouldn't have cared anyway.

Looking back at the drones she realized that ever since the warmth in her back had left she had become unable to use the Force, so she reached out with the Force for the first time and spoke to her friends.

The world slowly shifted as she felt pain for a short moment like she had hit her head then suddenly she was simultaneously looking through the eyes of her newly born self, as well as her friends, then something truly scared her as pain swelled in from another source, herself again.

Bloodshot and bleary eyes opened and she saw the red tint of what her other self was actively seeing, the world shifted and nothing was properly in place, for some reason she felt that her friends had kept her… she needed another name.

Thinking only briefly she realized that the new body she was in was not the owner of the name Ki Nala, but she was still the person behind herself, her own shadow, the name was one that was already given to her anyway, 'Atum'.

Atum thought briefly on the necessity of body and decided despite her friends best intentions it was both unnecessary and somewhat cruel to Ki Nala to stay around as such.

She picked herself up and walked over to the structure, entering through one of the mouth like openings and squirmed through the many tubes and throats of the structure until her new body rested in the center, slowly getting covered over by the vessels and flesh around her.

After removing her new body Atum looked back at Ki Nala and felt again the pain that was output from her, somehow her friends had kept her alive, but they did naught to heal her and the pain she was in was so extensive that even Atum in her sensory deprived state found herself trying to unconsciously push it away.

Eventually she focused hard on the pain of Ki Nala until the pain started to flow into her, relieving the beleaguered mind of Ki Nala which slowly started to return.

Yet even as she gave herself the blessing of waking without pain she knew it would all come back if she was not Force Sensitive and forced out of the Temple.

Looking down at the drones beneath her she saw the potential locked away inside of them, they simply needed DNA to unlock it, DNA perhaps from a living being she had just effectively fed to the… the word Hatchery feels right, Atum just fed her cloned body to the Hatchery.

This unlocked a multitude of options, one of which could be something similar to a prosthesis, but she must turn one of her friends into a structure to be dedicated to the modification.

One of her friends floated over to a corner of the room and slowly melded with the carpet until the same phenomenon that happened with her first friend occurred, a slow bloating in the center which would later turn into that structure.

It had already been 2 days since the Jedi man had talked to Ki Nala and he had indicated Atum had only a week before he came back with his results, only 5 days left for her friend to turn into the new structure and somehow get her to be Force-Sensitive enough to fool the Jedi again.

32 BBY – Opening years of the War – Atum – Coruscant, Jedi Temple

A mere day had passed and already the most immediately life threatening of the damage to Ki Nala had been staved off, if only her friends had some way to heal people.

Her friends seemed to heal very quickly on their own but Ki Nala was not one of them and she wasn't even sure her friends understood that superficial damage can be mentally damaging as well.

On a positive note however, her new friend structure had completed and it looked almost funny, somewhat like a large, more dangerous looking pair of Montrals sticking out of the ground, with a purple and orange color theme.

Almost immediately Atum could feel her friend speaking to her, requesting what it was to design, perhaps it had already known, after all, it had developed into exactly what she needed.

Deciding to go on a naming spree she listened and deciphered, as best she could, the ever so slight voice in the back of her head that had appeared ever since she had united with the Hatchery.

Looking down at her original looking friends she decided to call them Drones, the carpet would be Creep, which the moment she thought of it realized it sounded wrong, it wasn't creepy, it felt warm and comforting.

Finally, the species was to be called… and right then something struck her mind, like when someone had hit Ki Nala's Montrals with a training saber but worse.

She felt the Hatchery buckle slightly in response to her mental howl, then just as quickly it was gone, in its place was some very simple pieces of knowledge.

How to grow new Drones, that the common strains of DNA that she would normally have access to were long lost, where to find lost strains of DNA, that she needed to survive no matter what and finally who her friends were, the Zerg.

 **The Jedi have access to all sorts of weird stuff in their Temple, who knows what else is down there? Anywho, the secrets Ki Nala has been keeping will become harder to hide and while the Jedi may be oblivious in the Clone Wars era that doesn't extend to everything.**


End file.
